Disputas: Yu Jia

Prøveforelesning

Bedømmelseskomité

Prof. Carsten Suhr Jacobsen, Avdeling for Geokemi, GEUS, Danmarks og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse
Prof. Jan Mulder, Institutt for Plante- og Miljøvitenskap, UMB, Ås
Prof. Bjørg Stabell, Institutt for geofag, UiO

Sammendrag

The Ph.D. research work entitled “The Environmental Impact of Triazoles in Soil and Groundwater” has been carried out at the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo (UiO) in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB).

Over the last decades, the use of triazoles has expanded extensively worldwide. Triazoles are a class of chemical compounds used in many industrial applications, one of which is as additive in deicing and anti-icing fluids used at airports during winter operation. They are toxic to humans and aquatic organisms. Benzotriazole (BTA) is known to be slightly photolytic degradable, however until now, there is no evidence that BTA is biodegradable. Therefore environmental problems can occur in soil and groundwater. Limited work has been done on the effect of BTA on biodegradation, microbial growth, and microbial community composition. In addition, very limited data are available on transport and the fate of BTA in the subsurface environment.

On the basis of this, the research has been carried out involving the behaviour, fate and transport of BTA in soil and groundwater. This includes sorption studies as well as studies on biodegradation and microbial toxicity. The research work includes both experimental studies and computer modeling. The thesis has addressed the following questions: BTA behaves as environmental hazardous compound and it affects the degradation of other compounds in the unsaturated zone. Degradation kinetics under the effect of BTA can be described by modeling. BTA is sorbed significantly to iron minerals but there is generally low sorption to soil matrixes. Zero-valent iron barrier can be a choice of remediation, although the repeated exposure of BTA decreases the efficiency of the barrier. The fate of BTA can be predicted in long term of run.

Kontaktperson

For mer informasjon, kontakt Nils Roar Sælthun.